He sat on the bench as the second half started and hoped he would stay there the rest of the game. But near the end of the third quarter Coach Dates sent him back in to replace Rick.
He tried to do better, to avoid traveling, to avoid making a foul, to outjump an opponent at the boards or when a jump ball was called. It seemed that the harder he tried the worse he played.
“You outjumped him again, Stogy!” a Jet player shouted.
The Jets scored on the play. A few seconds later Cotton flipped a pass to Johnny near the basket and Johnny sank it. The crowd cheered. But the cheer didn't sound sincere. It seemed to mock him, as if Johnny had sunk the basket by accident.
Johnny sat on the bench during most of the fourth quarter. He went in when there was a minute left to play. He didn't score. The Astro Jets won, 68 to 57. Johnny couldn't get showered and out of the locker room fast enough.
“Those fans,” said Mom irritably as they rode home in Dad's car. “The nerve yelling such awful things. I don't want you to go to another game, Johnny. I don't want you to play again. It's embarrassing.”
“Now wait a minute, Celia,” said Dad. “Don't ask Johnny to quit. That will only make things worse for him. Fans are like that. Whether they see kids play, or grownups, they like to pick on someone. It's part of the game. Johnny's a good target. He's tall. He has long legs. The fans think he should jump higher than anyone else out there.”
“It's ridiculous,” muttered Mom.
“Well, there is some truth to that,” said Dad, and turned to look back at his stepson for a moment. “You really don't have spring in your legs, Johnny. But practice should take care of that.”
“Coach Dates told me to walk and run and jump all I can,” said Johnny.
“That'll do it,” Dad said with a smile.
4
Bundled in coats, hats, and boots, Johnny and Toby bucked the stiff wind and heavy flakes of snow as they headed for the Community Hall gym and the game against the Hornets.
The hall lay in the direction of the long hill where the boys had gone tobogganing. It was about a third of a mile from home. Dad would have driven them but it was only four-thirty and he was still at work. Johnny didn't mind walking, though. Since Coach had suggested that he exercise his legs and jump as often as possible, he preferred to walk.
Rick Davis started at center against the Hornets. Jim Sain, tall and trim in his green uniform, was in the Hornets left forward position.
The referee tossed the ball up between the centers, blew the whistle, and the game was on. Rick outjumped the Hornets center and tapped the ball to Toby. Toby flipped it to Huck and Huck dribbled it toward the White Cats basket. He stopped as Jim sprang in front of him, pivoted on his left foot, and whipped a pass to Rick. Rick broke for the basket, went up for a layup, and missed. He and Jim Sain leaped for the rebound and Jim got it.
Jim dribbled the ball upcourt, slowed down as he crossed the center line, then suddenly drove in and laid it up against the boards. A basket.
“That-a-way, Jim!” a deep voice thundered from the stands. “Buzz, boy! Buzz!”
Johnny saw the fan on the top seat at the opposite side of the court, a man wearing a shabby gray topcoat and holding a battered old hat.
Seconds later the Hornets scored another basket. Then Rick sank a twenty-foot set shot and Toby followed up with a corner shot that tied the score.
Soon Jim laid up another and the fan wearing the shabby coat yelled, “You're buzzing like a real hornet, Jim, boy!”
Half a minute later Jim tried to lay one up again and Stitch fouled him. Jim took two shots and missed them both. There was a wild scramble under the basket and Jim came up with the ball. He drove in and sank it for his sixth point of the game.
“Okay, Johnny,” said Coach Dates. “Take Huck's place.”
As Johnny went in Huck said to him, “Good luck.” Jim Sain was his man.
Johnny and Jim shook hands. “About time,” said Jim. “I've been anxious to see you in action.”
White Cats' ball out. Toby tossed it in to Rick. Johnny ran down center court, keeping several paces ahead of Jim. He lifted his hand now and then, trying to catch Rick's attention. Suddenly Rick heaved the ball and Johnny caught it. An instant later another pair of hands grabbed it and the ball was going nowhere.
Shreeeek! “Jump!” yelled the ref.
Johnny and Jim faced each other, their knees bent slightly in readiness to spring. Up went the ball. The boys jumped. Johnny saw Jim's hand go almost a foot above his. Jim tapped the ball and a Hornet grabbed it and dribbled away.
The quarter ended with the Hornets leading 11 to 8.
“Got to get spring in those legs of yours, Johnny,” said Coach Dates as the White Cats grouped around him. “You should be able to jump higher than anybody on the floor.”
Johnny avoided his eyes. He accepted the towel handed him and wiped the sweat from his face and arms. Someone was always reminding him of his long legs and poor jumping. Think he didn't know? Why didn't they leave him alone?
He was determined to guard Jim closer than ever during the second quarter. Jim, with a lot of spring in his legs, was a good re-bounder. But he was a slow dribbler.
Hornets' ball. A Hornet threw it in from out of bounds and a few passes later Jim had it dribbling upcourt. Johnny saw his chance and rushed in.
He stole the ball from Jim and whipped it to Cotton. A roar broke from the Cats fans. “Nice steal, Johnny!”
Cotton brought the ball back downcourt and passed to Toby. Toby stopped near the corner, aimed for the basket, and shot. In!
Johnny got another chance to steal the ball from Jim. This time Jim grabbed it though, and both boys fought for its possession before the referee's whistle stopped them.
“Jump!”
Johnny dreaded the moment. Here we go again, he thought.
Up went the ball. And up leaped Jim and himself. And Jim outjumped him.
A few minutes later the half ended with the Hornets leading, 28 to 25.
Johnny didn't start the second half. He didn't go in until the third quarter was nearly half over. Jim Sain was out so Johnny's man was new to him.
It wasn't long, however, before Jim was in the game again. His presence made a big difference, Johnny saw. Jim was the Hornets' best player. No doubt about it.
In the fourth quarter Johnny tried to stop Jim from sinking a layup and fouled him. The ball had gone in so Jim was given one shot. He sank it and cast a sly grin at Johnny. “Thanks, Johnny,” he said. “You can foul me anytime you want to.”
Later Johnny took a pass from Cotton, feinted by Jim, and sank a hook shot. It was a nice play and the crowd gave him a big hand. Jim took the throw-in from out of bounds, dribbled to the center line, then bounced a pass under Johnny's right arm to a Hornet teammate. Johnny watched Jim closely, expecting a throw back to him. Jim dashed for the basket and reached for a pass. Johnny stretched out his hand, intercepted the ball, and passed to Huck. He paid little attention to the cheer that went up for him.
He glanced at the clock. Fifty seconds to go. The Hornets were leading 61 to 49. Toby sank a corner shot to make it 61 to 51. Then Jim took another rebound away from Johnny and laid the ball up for two points just as the whistle shrilled, ending the game.
Jim grinned cockily at Johnny. “Told you I'd get even with you tonight,” he said, as they headed for the locker room.
“There will be another time,” replied Johnny.
It was snowing hard when he and Toby left the Community Hall and headed for home. Suddenly he felt a sharp blow against his back. He started to turn and ducked. A snowball whizzed past his head. Jim Sain and a couple of other Hornets were pegging snowballs.
“Let's run,” said Toby.
Johnny quickly took the lead. He turned sharply off the sidewalk, ran up the high snow piled along the side of the street and down the other side toward the street when he saw a monstrous, light-blinking object advancing less than a dozen yards away. A snowplow!
Panic seized Johnny. He slipped and slid down the bank of snow. At the same time he saw the right wing of the huge blade bearing toward him, shooting up a white spray of snow. He heard a scream as the blade struck him. And then his name, “Johnny!”
5
A hand touched his face and he heard a man's deep anxious voice. “Hey, boy. Look at me.”
Johnny opened his eyes and blinked against the falling snow. A broad grin spread across a wrinkled face against which the strong headlight of the snowplow was shining.
“That-a-boy,” said the man. “You hurt any place, son?”
Johnny tried to think where he might be hurt. “My side a little. And my right leg,” he said weakly.
“Just lie still,” advised the man. “We'll get an ambulance, take you to a hospital.” He looked at his companion, a man in a heavy parka beside him. “Stay with him, Ken. I'll phone for an ambulance.”
Presently there was Toby's face above him, eyes peering worriedly. “You hurt bad, Johnny? Something broken?”
“I don't think so, Toby.” He moved his hips, his arms, his legs.
“Better lie still, kid,” suggested the man named Ken. “A doctor can tell better than you.”
Johnny looked pleadingly at Toby. He didn't want to be taken to a hospital. He didn't want Mom and Dad to be worried about him. Especially Mom. She was always deathly afraid of his getting hurt. What was she going to do now? Force him to quit basketball? Would Dad feel the same way?
Other faces appeared in a ring above him. One was Jim Sain's. His eyes were wide, anxious.
Presently the first man returned and said that an ambulance was on its way. Ten minutes later it arrived. Johnny was laid into a stretcher, put into the ambulance, and driven away. Toby was allowed to go with him.
“It was Jim Sain's fault,” said Toby angrily.
“I should have seen the snowplow,” said Johnny. “But I didn't.”
A doctor examined him in the emergency room of the hospital. Mom and Dad had been summoned and were there in five minutes. Their faces were pale and tense with worry.
“What happened, Johnny?” Mom asked in a thin, strained voice. “Tell me what happened. Toby, did you see the accident?”
“He ran across the road and didn't see the snowplow in time,” explained Toby. “It was snowing awfully hard.”
The doctor tapped Johnny on the legs after a while and smiled. “He'll be all right. Nothing's broken. His heavy coat must have cushioned him from the blow. Take him home and put him to bed. He'll be all right in the morning.”
Johnny felt fine the next morning but Mom asked him to stay home from school anyway. He expected her to say that he had to quit basketball but she didn't.
He got fidgety hanging around the house all morning. Mom must have noticed it, for she let him go to school in the afternoon.
He saw Jim look at him in surprise, but Jim said nothing and neither did he. Other guys wanted to know how he was. “Okay,” he said simply.
Okay or not, Mom and Dad didn't permit him to play against the Red Foxes on Thursday. Since the game was at six-thirty, however, they all went to see it.
Johnny heard a familiar voice shouting during the game and saw the man in the shabby coat and battered hat. What an oddball, thought Johnny. This time the guy was rooting for the Red Foxes. Probably because the Foxes were the underdog, Johnny assumed. But what was he doing here now? Wasn't he a Hornet fan?
Later Johnny heard another familiar voice. He looked around and saw Jim Sain sitting with other Hornet players on the top row, and suddenly he knew why the man in the bedraggled clothes was here. The Hornets had played the five o'clock game that afternoon and most of the players, and the man, were staying to watch the White Cats-Red Foxes game.
Toby played his usual cool game and scored nine points. Rick led with thirteen. The White Cats took the win, 57 to 49.
Johnny started to leave the floor when a voice at his side said quietly, “Sorry about the other night, Johnny.”
Johnny spun and looked directly into Jim Sain's eyes. Did I hear right? he thought. Did he say he was sorry?
“That's okay,” murmured Johnny, too stunned to say any more.
The White Cats tangled with the Leopards on the 21st and Johnny had his first opportunity to play against the Dunk, Oscar Hill. The Leopards wore black uniforms with white trim and the face of a leopard was painted on the front of their jerseys.
They started off hot as fire. The Dunk sank three baskets to put them in the lead, 6 to 0.
Johnny laid one up and then Toby sank one from his favorite spot, the corner. A jump ball was called when Johnny and Oscar came down with the ball from the boards. Once again Johnny, a few inches taller than the Dunk, failed to outjump his opponent.
The Cats went into the lead in the second quarter. In the third Johnny struck the Dunk's hands twice as the boy went up for layups. Both times the Dunk scored baskets.
In the fourth Johnny struck the Dunk accidentally across the face as they both went up for a rebound. Shreek! went the whistle and the ref pointed the penalty finger at Johnny.
“One shot!” he said.
“What?” yelled Johnny and instant anger swelled inside of him. Without thinking he heaved the ball hard against the floor and watched it bounce halfway up to the ceiling. Shreeek! went the whistle again.
“Technical!” shouted the ref and glared at Johnny. “One more exhibition like that and you're out of the game, sonny,” he warned.
6
The Dunk took two shots—one for the foul Johnny had committed on him, the other for the technical—and sank them both.
Toby took out the ball for the White Cats and passed to Cotton. Cotton bounced it to Stitch and Stitch passed to Johnny, who started to run down the far side of the court.
Johnny saw the Dunk sprinting hard in an effort to intercept the ball and stretched his arms out for it just an instant before the Dunk got there. The Dunk then guarded him like a hawk, crowding him, and Johnny tried to pivot out of his way.
The whistle shrilled and Johnny stared at the ref. What did I do now? he wanted to yell.
The ref spun his hands. Traveling! Johnny took the ball in one hand and was about to strike it against the floor again but caught himself in time. He swung the ball around in a swift, graceful arc and tossed it gently to the man in the striped shirt.
He glanced at the scoreboard. The White Cats were leading by two points, 57 to 55. What a surprise! He had thought sure that the Leopards were ahead.
A Leopard sank a long one. At the whistle a horn buzzed and Johnny saw Nat Newton coming into the game. Nat pointed at him and Johnny trotted off the court. He didn't go in again. The game went to the White Cats, 63 to 59.
“You've got to learn to control your temper, Johnny,” Coach Dates warned in the locker room. “Bouncing the ball like you did is bad medicine.”
Johnny forced a grin. “I caught myself just in time when he called that traveling violation on me,” he said. “He sure would've thrown me out of the game then.”
“You're darn right he would have,” said the coach. “If he didn't, I would have.”
“You did, anyway,” Johnny chuckled.
In the car Mom made the remark again that Johnny ought to give up basketball. “Everyone picks on him,” she said. “No one is even giving him a chance to get adjusted.”
“I can't quit, Ma,” said Johnny. “I told you that. You just can't quit because of things like that.”
“Johnny's right, Celia,” said Dad. “Quitting isn't the way out of it. Johnny likes basketball. He'll get used to the rules gradually. He'll get to be quite a jumper, too. He'll get some knocks and bruises on the way but that's part of the game. Right, Johnny?”
“It sure is,” said Johnny.
Mom argued the point a little further, then gave up. She probably realized that this was one situation that whatever she said would not change their minds.
Dad and the boys had cleared the snow away from
the front of the garage, so Johnny took every available opportunity to practice jumping. Toby got Dad's step-ladder and drew a chalk mark on the backboard where Johnny's fingertips touched.
“The day I'd like to see is when you out-jump Jim Sain,” said Toby. “If anybody gives me a pain it's him.”
The Swordtails played the White Cats on Thursday and took the game 61 to 50. Johnny scored eleven points. He was sure he would have scored more had he been able to outjump the Swordtails' lanky center, Steve Kadish.
Friday afternoon was Christmas Eve. Dad took it off and he, Grandpa, and the boys went after a Christmas tree. They cut one down at a local farm, placed it on a stand in the living room, and decorated it that night. Christmas packages were piled underneath it and opened the next morning. Dad shot flash pictures as the boys, Mom, and Grandpa opened their packages.
Johnny choked back tears as he unwrapped a sweater, two shirts, socks, two books on undersea adventure, and a camera set. Toby got clothes too, plus a new stamp album and books on tropical fish.
What a Christmas, thought Johnny. What a real happy Christmas. It was only Mom and me before. Now there are five of us.
It was snowing thick flakes but Grandpa, Dad, Mom, and the boys walked the three blocks to church. Afterwards Mom cooked a big dinner—baked ham with pineapple slices, potatoes, corn, pickles, and pie. In the afternoon they went tobogganing. All except Grandpa.
“I was young enough last year,” he said. “But this year I'm too old for that sort of stuff.”
Mom, Dad, and the boys rode the toboggan together. Mom screamed and laughed most of the way down the hill. Johnny had never seen her so happy. Even though I'm having my problems with basketball, he thought, Mom and I have been the happiest we've ever been since the day she remarried and we came to live with Dad, Grandpa, and Toby.
Mom and Dad got tired after a few rides and went home. About four o'clock the boys decided to call it quits too. They had walked a short distance on the road toward home when a sleigh, drawn by two horses, started to pass by them.
Johnny Long Legs Page 2
